Crypto communities from around the globe seem to be outraged by one of the latest acquisitions of Coinbase, in addition to having Coinbase asking their users to upload the private keys of their wallets to cloud storage accounts, such as Google Drive and iCloud.
Coinbase users and crypto holders then started to boycott the well-known cryptocurrency exchange, having numerous Bitcoin holders demonstrating by deleting and closing the accounts they have on Coinbase.
Coinbase is one of the largest and most prominent exchanges in the market, and the case with Neutrino acquisition is probably one of the most negatively commented actions ever taken by Coinbase.
“Coinbase Effect” No More? Neutrino Acquisition is Meddling with Coinbase’s Reputation – Cryptoverse Outraged
The reason behind the evident negative consensus on the matter of Coinbase and their acquisition of Neutrino has everything to do with the safety of users trading their crypto on Coinbase.
Neutrino is a startup, founded by former founders of a notorious surveillance vendor based in Italy, called Hacking Team, that was repeatedly caught spying on different governments while collecting suspicious human rights data.
“The spyware team”, as Twitterati are referring to Neutrino/Hacking Team has been related to theft of sensitive information and data, so even BTC experts such as Andreas Antonopoulos are advising Coinbase account holders to ditch the exchange and keep their identity, crypto, and data safe from suspicious companies such as Neutrino.
Coinbase, of course, tried to defend their acquisition after suggesting account holders to upload their private keys to cloud storage accounts, stating that Neutrino’s technology was the best they encountered in the space for achieving maximal security, adding that Coinbase is not condemning or defending the previous alleged activities of the Hacking Team, adding that the policy of Hacking Team won’t be present in their cooperation with Neutrino.
The main goal, as stated by Coinbase, is to assure the utmost safety and security of users.
In the meanwhile, Wednesday Polls had a poll on the matter of trust in Coinbase after Neutrino acquisition, where 74% of users voted on lowered trust in the exchange.